Hardware for gigabit internet
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Hi All,
my fibre connection is being upgraded to 1000/500 coming 1st of October and I need to replace my current isp supplied junk router :)
I'm struggling to piece together the hardware because of all the mixed recommendations i've been reading.
I've got a HTPC that I don't use anymore that has an asrock h77m-itx mobo, i3 3225 CPU, 8GB ram and a 60GB SSD boot drive I was thinking of re purposing for this project and looking at purchasing a quad port intel pro/1000 nic to go with it.
As i'm just a hobbiest and this router will stay on and will be sitting beside my desk I have a requirement of it being silent (hoping I can get a pico power supply to run what ever setup I may end up getting) and it needs to be in a smallish m-itx case - Something like this
Anyone had experience with a build to similar with what im hoping for? Quite, small, gig speeds
Happy to share or make recommendation?
Cheers,
DT
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I don't have any experience with your particular mobo/cpu combo, but seeing as your i3 3225 is way faster than my Celeron N3150, and I can reach 1Gbps throuput easily just using measly RealTek NICs, you should have no problems at all.
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That hardware sounds like a great start for a fast little build. If you're putting a server NIC into it, your "small" (small is a relative term here) case search (I get a 404 on your case link, btw) might be limited because of the requirement for a half height expansion slot, but don't let that stop you.
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The Gigabyte BRIX GB-BSi3HAL-6100 looks pretty sweet, core i3 and dual Intel gigabit NIC. Maybe a little bit over powered for your needs though, a celeron or J1900 system would also be a good alternative to save some cash.
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my fibre connection is being upgraded to 1000/500 coming 1st of October and I need to replace my current isp supplied junk router :)
If this might be running over PPPoE you might be not really hitting the 1 GBit/s area, please don´t forget this.
And if you want to get a sufficient speed and enough power you may need more money then for a regular junk
router from the ISP too!I'm struggling to piece together the hardware because of all the mixed recommendations i've been reading.
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Jetway NF9HG-2930 (Intel Bay Trail-M)
2 x miniPCIe (mSATA & WiFi) + 8 GB RAM + mSATA
– silent no turning or moving parts
-- thin enough for a thin mini-ITX case
-- powerful enough for GB/s but not over PPPoE!!!!
-- PSU is external and will be connected to the board directly from outside -
ASUS Q87T
mSATA + WiFi + CPU + RAM + Intel dual or quad port NIC
-- many Intel CPU´s support
-- many RAM but small form factor
-- 2 x miniPCIe slot (mSATA & WiFi)
-- mini-ITX form factor case ready
I've got a HTPC that I don't use anymore that has an asrock h77m-itx mobo, i3 3225 CPU, 8GB ram and a 60GB SSD boot drive I was thinking of re purposing for this project and looking at purchasing a quad port intel pro/1000 nic to go with it.
Might be also ok, but please see for the PSU specs. and usage! if you pay ~$300 a year for that unit
then you might be going better with the Jetway after two years for free!!As i'm just a hobbiest and this router will stay on and will be sitting beside my desk I have a requirement of it being silent (hoping I can get a pico power supply to run what ever setup I may end up getting) and it needs to be in a smallish m-itx case - Something like this
Then the Jetway will be an optimal choice!
~220 € the board- 50€ for 2 x 4 GB RAM
- 15 € for the PSU
- 50 € for the mSATA
- 40 € for the M350 case
- Pico PSU and perhaps WiFi card
Anyone had experience with a build to similar with what im hoping for? Quite, small, gig speeds
please read above
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@BlueKobold:
my fibre connection is being upgraded to 1000/500 coming 1st of October and I need to replace my current isp supplied junk router :)
If this might be running over PPPoE you might be not really hitting the 1 GBit/s area, please don´t forget this.
And if you want to get a sufficient speed and enough power you may need more money then for a regular junk
router from the ISP too!I'm struggling to piece together the hardware because of all the mixed recommendations i've been reading.
-
Jetway NF9HG-2930 (Intel Bay Trail-M)
2 x miniPCIe (mSATA & WiFi) + 8 GB RAM + mSATA
– silent no turning or moving parts
-- thin enough for a thin mini-ITX case
-- powerful enough for GB/s but not over PPPoE!!!!
-- PSU is external and will be connected to the board directly from outside -
ASUS Q87T
mSATA + WiFi + CPU + RAM + Intel dual or quad port NIC
-- many Intel CPU´s support
-- many RAM but small form factor
-- 2 x miniPCIe slot (mSATA & WiFi)
-- mini-ITX form factor case ready
I've got a HTPC that I don't use anymore that has an asrock h77m-itx mobo, i3 3225 CPU, 8GB ram and a 60GB SSD boot drive I was thinking of re purposing for this project and looking at purchasing a quad port intel pro/1000 nic to go with it.
Might be also ok, but please see for the PSU specs. and usage! if you pay ~$300 a year for that unit
then you might be going better with the Jetway after two years for free!!As i'm just a hobbiest and this router will stay on and will be sitting beside my desk I have a requirement of it being silent (hoping I can get a pico power supply to run what ever setup I may end up getting) and it needs to be in a smallish m-itx case - Something like this
Then the Jetway will be an optimal choice!
~220 € the board- 50€ for 2 x 4 GB RAM
- 15 € for the PSU
- 50 € for the mSATA
- 40 € for the M350 case
- Pico PSU and perhaps WiFi card
Anyone had experience with a build to similar with what im hoping for? Quite, small, gig speeds
please read above
Hi Frank,
Thank you for your comprehensive reply, I truly do appreciate it.
I've read an article with someone using the same board + 80w xeon CPU + gtx 460 GPU and it idled at 43W
I'm assuming my consumption wouldn't be anywhere near that amount but please correct me if i'm wrong (will be moving to a PICO PSU)
I will be connecting via PPPoE passthrough - which I didn't realize required would require more powerful hardware.
I don't mind spending a little extra to make the most out of it as long as its not going to be extortionate amounts
What would you suggest for GBit over PPPoE? Is motherboard other than connectivity features that important?
From what I've read about the packages, I like the sounds of ClamAV, Squid and Snort but never used anything like it before so its not a requirement but a nice to have if it don't need fork out 1000's for it :)
No requirements for OpenVPN either.
BTW, here's the case in my broken link (doh!)
http://www.procase.co.nz/pc/CS2757/cs2757mini.htm
I like it because its small, will accept the 250W PICO power supply I've picked up but most importantly will support a single 2x raiser card which will allow me to add 2x quad port intel NICS to it, looks kinda networky/router-ish too :)
Thanks,
DT
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Bump
Is anyone able to confirm a hardware configuration that is capable of achieving gigabit speeds with PPPoE?
I did find this blog but he appears to get quite high latency?
https://kdemaria.wordpress.com/2015/04/22/how-to-configure-pfsense-2-2-2-for-centurylink-gigabit-seattle-edition/
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Is anyone able to confirm a hardware configuration that is capable of achieving gigabit speeds with PPPoE?
I've heard anecdotes about the em driver performing much better than the igb driver with PPPoE. That would suggest an older Intel server NIC for the WAN port. Search this forum and you might find some threads that can provide more concrete info. Rest of the hardware should be just fine (edit: meaning the hardware in your original post). If that can't handle it, then none of the other suggestions will either, IMO. As far as the em vs igb driver thing, I've had very good luck with NICs based on Intel
82571EB chipset. I use a HP NC360T (dual port) but you can find a quad port one (NC364T) for $40 US or so. They use the em driver and are well supported, but use a bit more power than newer chipsets. -
From what I've read about the packages, I like the sounds of ClamAV, Squid and Snort but never used anything like it before so its not a requirement but a nice to have if it don't need fork out 1000's for it :)
A full UTM together with 1 GBIt/s at the WAN Port is needing a desktop CPU around ~3,0GHz and a dual or
quad port NIC that is using the (em) driver for Intel cards. This could be the best option to reach that goal.Is anyone able to confirm a hardware configuration that is capable of achieving gigabit speeds with PPPoE?
My favorite set up would be the ASUS Q87T and an Intel Core i3 or a similar set up with an Intel Xeon E3
that will be strong and powerful enough to reach that goal. -
Thanks!
The i3 I have laying around is 3.3ghz but has a high TDP 55W :( I hope it does not run that high fulltime
I picked up a Intel PRO/1000 PT Quad port nic for the pfSense box and an i340-t2 for my desktop all up $60NZD which is about $43USD or $38EUR.. I dont think the guy selling them really knew what he had :)
My connection upgrade is going live on the 3/10/16 so I will be back to update :)
Whats how easiest way to check how many watts of power the computer is consuming? is there a utility in pfsense?
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TDP is a typical thermal output under heavy load, not the maximum possible or the average or the actual electrical drian (witch is higher). Your cpu should idling most of the time, thus using much less power. Anyway, even Skylake i3s need a bit of power while idling, I wouldn't be surprised you have more than 35w at the wallet while idling. My NAS has a skylake pentium G and with just 6 disks I see a 58w idle power drain even with a 80 platinum psu. In the near future you better if evaluating design less power hungry while idling.
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bump
Just to update everyone and to help all the googlers out there :)
Check the my signature for hardware config and results.
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bump
Just to update everyone and to help all the googlers out there :)
Check the my signature for hardware config and results.
Lucky bugger…
It that typical for Kiwi connections, or way above what you usually get there?
Surely that'd cost you a fortune? What's your data quota?
Can only dream of that in my inner-city suburb of Brisbane, bloody pathetic. -
Lucky bugger…
It that typical for Kiwi connections, or way above what you usually get there?
Surely that'd cost you a fortune? What's your data quota?
Can only dream of that in my inner-city suburb of Brisbane, bloody pathetic.Its starting to become the norm, theres pretty good fibre to the door coverage in NZ now due to the nation wide role out due to be completed 2019
I'm with one of the bigger more expensive ISP's here in NZ, Orcon. I pay $140 a month for 1000/500, unlimited data cap and VOIP services with all the addons.. caller ID, divert, voicemail, conference calling etc they send you a "free" $400NZD router called fritzbox 3940 but i'm sure its bundled into the price.. a zero throttling ISP as well.
Gigabit fibre plans start from $99 unlimited, pretty much all of the ISP's here price you into unlimited as its usually only $10 more than their base plans of 80-100GB
But yeah its hardcase, theres still some CBD'ish places here in Auckland that don't have fibre to their door yet but there's tiny little towns in the middle of nowhere that have full coverage and only 20% uptake
I get about 850/350~ to the Sydney telstra speed test server and 750/350~ to Brisbane
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Ugh, so annoying that our NBN turned into such a political basket-case, if it hadn't, a large chunk of us would be having FTTH by now, instead of the BS "mixed services" approach we're now lumped with. Which was promised to be much faster to roll-out, & much cheaper, it has been a total fail in that regard, so why the hell didn't they just go FTTH all the way (for the most built-up areas only ofc).
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intel nics
i5 or i7 setup with 16gb ram
the supermicro atom c2758 is still a popular pick
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Hello,
i am using an XEON E3-1225 V3 and HyperV with PFsense as VM, but I am not reaching the Gigabit :(
Network adapter is HP NC365T Quad-Port 4x 1 Gbps.But Speed stucks at this Point:
Any idea? -
Its quite possible its due to the NIC you are using.
People have experience gigabit performance issues using the IGB intel drivers
The card I'm using uses the EM drivers
List of IGB driver chipsets (your card is using the 82580 chipset)
https://www.freebsd.org/cgi/man.cgi?query=igb&apropos=0&sektion=4&manpath=FreeBSD+11-current&format=html
List of EM driver chipsets (my card uses the 82571 chipset)
https://www.freebsd.org/cgi/man.cgi?query=em&sektion=4&apropos=0&manpath=FreeBSD+11-current
I also went one step further and put a intel 1340-t2 NIC into my PC to make sure I was getting the best possible performance
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Ugh, so annoying that our NBN turned into such a political basket-case, if it hadn't, a large chunk of us would be having FTTH by now, instead of the BS "mixed services" approach we're now lumped with. Which was promised to be much faster to roll-out, & much cheaper, it has been a total fail in that regard, so why the hell didn't they just go FTTH all the way (for the most built-up areas only ofc).
Hah, yeah I heard about it all going belly up over there and it turning to "fibre to the node" instead.. what a rubbish idea..
Friend of mine living in Melbourne is a bit of a conspirator and reckons Murdoch had a lot to do with it because he was worried about streamers and didn't want his empire to come crashing down around him.
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Its quite possible its due to the NIC you are using.
People have experience gigabit performance issues using the IGB intel drivers
The card I'm using uses the EM drivers
List of IGB driver chipsets (your card is using the 82580 chipset)
https://www.freebsd.org/cgi/man.cgi?query=igb&apropos=0&sektion=4&manpath=FreeBSD+11-current&format=html
List of EM driver chipsets (my card uses the 82571 chipset)
https://www.freebsd.org/cgi/man.cgi?query=em&sektion=4&apropos=0&manpath=FreeBSD+11-current
I also went one step further and put a intel 1340-t2 NIC into my PC to make sure I was getting the best possible performance
Interesting point.
To disprove that argument I have just installed Iperf on HyperV and Lan Client and speed is ~950 Mbit/sCould the NIC still be the guilty thing?
